Shawmut to expand loan effort Shawmut to widen loan initiatives Minority lending effort to be intensified A Edition

• Published in: The Hartford courant
• Main Authors: Johnson, Joanne, Courant Staff Writer
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hartford, Conn Tribune Interactive, LLC 04.02.1994
• ISSN: 1047-4153

Shawmut officials denied that the loan program expansion was a direct result of the Fed's rejection of its plan to acquire New Dartmouth Bank, based in Manchester, N.H. The Fed spurned Shawmut's plan in November, citing concern about possible lending discrimination in its mortgage operations. Shawmut is establishing a $3 million loan pool for home-equity and installment loans to minority-group members. The company also plans to expand its first-time home buyer seminars to teach minority-gropu members, along with low and moderate-income people, how to obtain loans for small-business, commercial and other consumer purposes. James E. Moynihan Jr., an analyst with Advest Inc. in Boston, said the recent crackdown on lending bias has sent a powerful message to the banking industry that regulators are going to demand strong minority lending records before approving acquisition proposals. Besides New Dartmouth, Shawmut plans to take over two other banks -- Norwalk-based Gateway Financial Corp. and People's Bancorp of Worcester